Things happen when we don’t treat all people as whole individuals worthy of respect and compassion. Regardless of how you read ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ as a possible future, a literal fictional nightmare or an exaggeration of class and gender relationships in Western society, the story urges us to be brave and keep hope alive even when we feel powerless to change what we don’t like in the world. We can’t always win but it’s still worth it to be kind. To stand up for ourselves and to do the right thing. That is how we stay human.